Take It Or Leave It
by Zack Fair's Booty
Summary: Zack works on sets for the college drama club. Cloud manages the lights. Zack and Cloud fall in love, and Genesis freaks out. You know the drill.


"The play is in a week, you know." Angeal informed Zack during their Introduction to Literature class. "Genesis is going to kick your ass when he realizes that it _still_ isn't finished."

Zack groaned. The entire drama club had been hounding him all day to get the background for 'Loveless' finished before Genesis found out about its incompletion, and he was getting irritated with every last one of them. "Look, it'll be done! I just want it to be perfect, you know? There's a lot of detail that has to go into it, and it's not something that can be rushed."

"You've had two months to work on it. What have you even been doing?!" Angeal was clearly growing more frustrated as their conversation carried on, but Zack wasn't about to get chewed out for something that wasn't his fault.

"I had to help with the costumes! Nobody could get the Goddesse's gown just right, so I had to give up hours of my time to do the damn tailoring on it! Not to mention, since Gen has been gone sick and the _only_ other person who knows the battle sequences like he does is _ME,_ I had to take you and Sephiroth under my wing to make sure you knew what the hell you were doing!"

Angeal folded his arms across his chest and leaned back in his chair. "Sorry." his voice softened. "You're right. Your multi-talented prowess has been abused by the entire crew. But you're the only one who can get the background finished, Zack." he stated sternly. "We really need it done before the play."

"Like I don't know that?" Zack grumbled, rubbing his eyes. "I want this play to be great too, you know."

"I know." Angeal clapped Zack on the back. "I've got faith in you." Though, it lacked conviction.

Doctor Lazard announced the beginning of class, ending their conversation, but Zack's mind lingered on the topic. He couldn't figure out why everyone seemed to have no faith in him, even though _he_ was the one that had been in charge during these past couple of weeks while Genesis had fallen ill.

Zack knew it was his own fault, though. He shouldn't have taken more onto his already loaded plate. He had his studies, his part time job, his piano lessons, _and_ this business with the theater. There was hardly ever any time for him to just relax, which is what he planned on doing that night, but seeing as everybody was having a conniption, he figured he should get the stupid background finished.

He was the first to arrive to the stage later on that afternoon, and he got right into business. He set up the ladder and made sure he had all of his paints and brushes before getting started. Club members slowly began to file through the door over the next half an hour, each of them shooting him a hello when they approached the stage.

But there was one person who _did not_ say hello, and _was not_ pleased to see him.

"ZACKARY." Genesis screamed as he hopped the stairs up the stage. "Why in the _hell_ isn't that finished yet?!"

"Seriously?" Zack looked down from on top of the ladder. "You've been gone for a month, leaving me in charge of everything, and _that's_ how you greet me?!"

"The play is in a week, you understand that, right?" he growled, giving the ladder a kick.

Zack grabbed onto the paints to keep them from spilling, and attempted to keep his balance. "What the hell?! I won't be able to paint if you kill me, Gen!" he growled. "I'll stay late tonight, alright? It'll get done, just stop your worrying."

"Gah!" Genesis rubbed his temples. "Alright, I need to see what you guys have been doing while I've been out. I want a full run through starting at five." he shot glares at the stage members. "Scoot!"

Zack kept his focus on the background the entire time, tuning out Genesis's constant bellows and harsh criticisms.

"This play is a wreck!" Genesis yelled. "What have you guys been doing? Listen here, listen to this." he pointed up at the lights booth on the opposite side of the auditorium. "You see that cute little blonde up there? This is his first day. I gave him a copy with instructions this morning, and he worked by himself for an hour. And _he_ was able to get _everything_ correct! He had an _hour_ of practice while you have had _two months!_ "

Zack wanted to climb down the ladder and shove Genesis off the stage to incapacitate him for another month. "Take it easy on them, Gen." Zack called down lightly. "The play will be fine. They've all been dedicated this entire time, and just need a little fine tuning from a professional such as yourself."

"Shove it, Zackary." Genesis snarled. "You're the last person I want to hear from right now. I put you in charge because I thought you could prevent this kind of disaster from happening!"

Zack held his tongue and continued painting.

When the night was finished, three of the stage crew members left in tears, Sephiroth and Angeal had had such an argument that they were no longer on speaking terms, and 'The Goddess' Aerith had promised that she was not going to return to the theater ever again.

"You're really going to stay late and finish that piece of garbage?" Genesis asked Zack after the rest of the club had left.

"Garbage?!" Zack yelled, completely offended. "This is the most beautiful thing I have ever painted!"

"Whatever." Genesis yawned. "Lock up when you're done."

Zack said nothing and took a step down to paint a little lower. He heard the auditorium door slam shut, and he felt more at ease as the presence of that demon was lifted.

 _Who does he even think he is?_ he asked himself. He sighed deeply and decided to take a step back from everything and see what the background looked like from afar.

In his opinion, it looked great. It was a sunset over a body of water, with pillars aligned on the sides to give the effect of being on top of a castle turret.

He fell to his knees dramatically and stared helplessly at it. Was it really as bad as Gen said?

"It looks really good." a voice reasoned from behind.

Zack nearly screamed in surprise, but luckily all that came out was a small squeak. He turned and noticed a blonde man with a grocery bag walking down the aisle.

A very _cute_ blonde man with a grocery bag.

"Thanks." Zack replied, standing up. He folded his arms and faced it again. "Too bad the only person whose opinion matters _hates_ it." he silently cursed himself. "Wait, don't take that the wrong way." he looked over his shoulder as the blonde climbed onto the stage. "Not that your opinion doesn't matter, but Genesis is the one in charge and…I'm rambling." he turned away once more, his face beet red.

"Genesis is just under a lot of stress. I bet he loves it too, but he's letting his pride get in the way. He can be like that, I've noticed." He held out his hand. "I'm Cloud, by the way. I'm in charge of the lights booth."

Zack shook the smaller hand, a grin on his face. "So _you're_ the 'cute little blonde,' hm?"

"Ha." Cloud scoffed. "And _you're_ the one who single handedly ruined this entire play, eh?"

Zack's ears burned. "Some people may refer to me as Zack."

Cloud smiled and held the grocery bag out to him. "I heard you say that you were going to stay until this was finished, so I took the liberty of grabbing some drinks and snacks."

"What?!" Zack snatched the bag and dug through it. "Wait." He narrowed his eyes, suspicions rising. "Why?"

"Uhh…" This time, Cloud was the one who went red. He ran his hand through his insanely spikey hair. "I actually sit behind you in Intro to Lit, so I overheard you and Angeal talking today. Then I was talking to Sephiroth, who said that you have been doing a lot of the work around here. I guess I just sort of felt bad."

"Oh." Zack raised his eyebrows. "Well…thanks." he pulled out a large can of iced tea. "This is my favorite!"

Cloud smiled weakly. "I didn't know what kind you liked, so I just grabbed all kinds."

Zack set the bag down and cracked open the can, chugging half of it in one go. "This is good! Thanks!" he began to walk back to the ladder, setting the can down carefully underneath it. He then turned back to face the blonde, who had followed behind him. "Uhh, so…did you…need anything else?"

"No. I _was_ going to ask you if you wanted help with this, but I don't think my skills quite match that of yours…"

"You want to help me?" Zack didn't quite understand. Why would someone he had literally _just met_ want to help him with something that didn't mean anything to him?

Zack studied the blonde and found that he was more than cute. He was _extremely_ good looking. He had bright blue eyes lined with pure black lashes, which popped vibrantly against his pale skin, and clashed dangerously with his wild blonde spikes. Zack tried to think of how he never noticed this beauty in his class, especially if he only sat right behind him.

"Yeah." Cloud stated, looking at the ground nervously. "Sorry, I guess that's kind of weird for me to offer-"

"No!" Zack exclaimed. "No, this is perfect! You know, out of the entire crew, nobody had ever offered _me_ any help. This is…yeah. Thank you. This is really cool of you."

Cloud smiled up at him. "Alright. Tell me what to do."

Zack lead Cloud behind the stage to the small supply room. "I'm just going to have you do some basic painting. That way it will be dry by the time I get to it to do shading and whatnot."

Cloud shrugged, taking the brushes and paint that Zack held out to him. "Sounds simple enough."

Zack followed behind Cloud as they went back to the stage, and he couldn't help but stare at the butt in front of him.

 _Oh God, he's got a cute ass._ He groaned internally, but then scolded himself. He needed to stay focused on the project at hand.

He brought Cloud to the opposite side of the background and pointed at a section that was yet to be painted at all. "Can you just paint all of this grey?" he asked. "I know that there is marker all over on the inside, but I drew those in, so you can just paint over them. I'll remember where they are."

"Alright." Cloud said, popping the lid off of the tin. "Is there some sort of technique I'm supposed to use with the brush? Like, so that the strokes match or something?" he dipped a large brush into the milky grey paint.

"Well…just don't be sloppy and swirl it all over. Up and down strokes."

"Alright." Cloud began to run the brush over the drawn on bricks, leaving large bubbles of paint in his wake.

"Hold on." Zack stood behind Cloud and reached out to wrap his own hand around Cloud's, guiding the brush steadily up and down. "If you do it too fast, the paint won't spread evenly, and it won't turn out. But if you do it too slow, then it drips down and makes a big mess. But," he continued to lead Cloud's hand steadily up and down, absentmindedly resting his other hand on Cloud's hip. He felt the smaller boy tense up underneath him, and he quickly let go, taking a step backwards.

"Just keep that up and you'll be golden." he stuttered, his entire body heating up with embarrassment. _Stupid, stupid,_ _ **stupid.**_ He scolded himself, returning to the ladder.

After he climbed it and resumed adding details to the water, he decided to fix the awkward silence that hung in the air. "What year are you anyways?"

"Hm? Oh, I'm a Sophomore. How about you?"

"I'm a Junior. What's your major?"

Cloud let out a small chuckle. "I'm actually undecided."

"What? No way, me too! I have no clue what I want to do with my life."

"Me either!" Cloud laughed. "I thought about, like, psychology or something, but you can't even go onto any profession without attending grad school. Which I'm not so sure I want to do."

"I don't blame you." Zack dipped his small brush into the can of light blue paint. "Grad school ain't for everyone. Though, psych majors are thought highly of, you know? And you could learn a lot of stuff in those classes."

"Right. I mean, I'm taking the classes just in case, but…I'm still exploring my options."

"Eh. You've still got plenty of time." he wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, cursing the intensity of the lights. "My advisor is having a panic attack because I haven't declared anything. But I think I could get into criminal justice, you know? And who knows, maybe I'll get stuck here an extra year or two. I'm not too worried about it. I'm not in too big of a hurry."

"Yeah. Nothing wrong with that. I bet you'd do well in that field. You seem like a really dependable and trustworthy guy."

"Thanks!" a sense of pride washed over Zack, and he thought of something else to talk about to keep the conversation from falling apart. "Say, I have a question."

"Mm?"

"What took you so long to join the club? I mean, it's mid-semester. Genesis never mentioned anything about you joining, so I figured I would be the one up there controlling the lights during the shows."

"Oh. It was a last minute thing. I'm not part of any other clubs. And I don't really do much else, so I thought, why not? I was in theater in high school so I figured this would be my best bet. So I emailed Genesis yesterday, and he told me to show up here this morning to get a little training."

Zack smirked. "But you picked it all up in only an hour."

"Tch. I did it in high school, remember? Besides…" he let out a quiet laugh. "I really like watching the plays. I can't wait for this one to tie together. I can tell that it will be really good."

"Damn straight! It has to come together. Genesis will never let me live it down if it doesn't."

Cloud was quiet for a moment. "Why is he so hard on you anyways? Like, I know he's hard on the others, but he's _exceptionally_ hard on you."

Zack climbed down the ladder and moved it so he could paint the middle of the background. "Eh. He's got his reasons. He and I dated for a while in my freshman year. It didn't last very long, because of his extreme vanity and my intolerance for douchebaggery, so he holds it against me."

"Oh." Cloud said, surprised. "I never would have guessed."

"That I'm gay?" Zack's heart began to beat faster. Even though people were more accepting of homosexuality in this area than his home town, he still ran into a few people who were against it. He just didn't think that Cloud was one of them.

"Ah, no. I can see that." Cloud flashed a side smile. "I just never thought that _you_ would have dated someone like _him._ I mean, Genesis is just…pretty?"

Zack nearly knocked over a can of paint. "What, you saying that I'm not pretty?" he accused.

Cloud knelt down to paint the bottom portion of the castle. "I'm _saying_ that I thought you would go for someone who's got more going for them than their looks."

Zack's was taken aback. "That's a little harsh, don't you think? I mean, yeah he's got a temper on him, and he takes that temper out on others, but…he's passionate, you know? I think that's what drew me in. When he starts talking about something that he loves, he gets this damn look in his eyes that makes him irresistible. Problem is, when that love is directed at acting and theater, it leaves little room for anything else. Ergo, his vanity."

Cloud stood up, finished with the castle portion. "Sorry. That wasn't very appropriate of me to ask, anyways. It's not my place."

Zack could feel those blue eyes staring up at him, so he looked down quickly to meet them.

"I don't mind. It was two years ago, I don't care for him like that anymore." Zack climbed down the ladder and scooted it farther down. "We're almost done here, can you believe it?"

Cloud smiled weakly. "It looks really good. What else can I help out with?"

"Actually…" Zack ran his hand through his hair. "The rest is just shading. You don't have to stick around any later if you don't want to."

Cloud shrugged. "I have nothing better to do. Is there anything else that needs to be done around here?"

"Umm…I mean, yeah, but you shouldn't have to take responsibility-"

"I already told you I'm staying until this background is finished, so you might as well put me to use." he said, irritation lining his voice.

 _Good God. He's cute when he's annoyed, too._ Zack's eyes flicked to Cloud's lips, causing him to lick his own. He shook that thought out of his mind immediately. This kid was probably straight as an arrow. Not to mention, he didn't need to scare of the only person who was willing to help out with the sets. "There's a bridge in the back that needs a second layer of varnish if you want to do that?"

"Sure." Cloud shoved his hands into his pockets. "Where is it?"

"Follow me!" Zack grinned, leading Cloud backstage once more. "It's on top of this trolley thing so it's easy to push. I'll grab the varnish for you if you bring that to center stage?"

Cloud nodded, and Zack went back to the supply room.

When he came back, the bridge was already moved, and Cloud was staring up at the background.

"You alright, buddy?" Zack asked, taking stance next to him.

"It looks so real." Cloud breathed. "You're really good at thing kind of thing, you know? I would kill to have talent like yours."

Zack rolled his eyes and handed the can of varnish to Cloud. "Yeah, okay. It's average, at best. Besides, ten bucks says there's something you're good at that _I_ would be jealous of."

Cloud laughed. "I'm not particularly good at anything." he reached over and grabbed the grocery bag, digging through it until he retrieved a lemonade. "Unless you could be jealous of being good at nothing?"

Zack elbowed the younger man. "I'll figure you out soon enough."

Even though he tried to hide it, Zack could see Cloud's cheeks turn a little red. He smiled proudly to himself and chugged the rest of his iced tea.

After another two hours, they were able to complete the background, finish varnishing the bridge, _and_ put a fresh coat of silver paint on the wooden swords.

"I'll go turn all the lights off." Cloud offered, heading towards the spiral staircase hidden in a small nook.

Zack waited patiently, leaning against the banister at the bottom of the stairs. He stared at the stage while the lights flicked off one at a time until the only light entering the auditorium was coming from the open door from the lobby. Cloud's footsteps padded down through the darkness, and Zack heard a stumble and a squeal. He instinctively reached out across the stairs, grabbing hold of Cloud as the blonde fell.

They both ended up on the ground, Cloud on top of Zack. The blonde propped himself up so that he was hovering only a few inches above Zack, whose heart was beating rapidly within him.

"I'm so sorry!" Cloud exclaimed, rolling off of Zack. "I'm such an idiot, how in the hell did I miss a step? Are you hurt?"

Zack sat up, laughing. "I'm fine. Though…" he rubbed his elbow. "I think I whacked my arm on something on the way down."

Just as he said that, blood began to trickle steadily out of Cloud's nose.

"I hit your face?!" he yelled, pulling Cloud up with him as he stood. "Pinch it at the bridge, and tilt your head back!"

He put his hand on the small of Cloud's back and led him to the bathroom so that they could clean up the mess.

"I'm so sorry." Zack said quietly, shame filling his voice. "I don't know how I managed to do that. I thought that I could catch you, but…" his voice trailed off. "Is it broken?"

"What?" Cloud frowned, checking the toilet paper he had pressed against his nose. "No, it's fine. Though…I think you might have knocked out a tooth…" he poked his finger gently into his mouth.

Zack's stomach dropped. "Seriously?! I'll go look for it!" he turned to run off, back Cloud jerked him back.

"Dude, I was _kidding."_ he smiled widely. "See? All here."

"Thank God." Zack said, relieved. He then ruffled Cloud's hair. "Don't scare me like that!"

Cloud laughed. "Were you really gonna go look for a _tooth?_ "

"I was!" Zack blushed.

Cloud checked his nose once more. "It's already done bleeding."

"You've got blood all over your face."

Cloud shrugged and began to wash it off. "You've got paint all over yours."

"Do not!" Zack cried defensively. However, upon closer examination in the mirror, he found that he did, in fact, have blue paint all over his forehead. He scrubbed it off and the two left the bathroom.

They grabbed their bags and Zack locked up the auditorium.

They retreated from the building into the cool November air. Zack looked around to see where Cloud's car was, but he only saw his own motorcycle.

"You need a ride anywhere?" Zack offered.

"Nah, it's okay. I don't mind walking."

"Tch." Zack grabbed ahold of Cloud's wrist and dragged him towards his bike. "I nearly broke your nose, it's the least I could do."

He handed Cloud his helmet and hopped onto the bike, firing it up. "Hop on, Spikey."

Cloud raised his eyebrow. "Spikey?"

"It suits you!" Zack smiled.

Cloud stared at the helmet, turning it over in his hands. "Uhh…listen…I've never rode a motorcycle before."

Zack cocked his head. "I won't do anything stupid or dangerous. I promise. I'll even go the speed limit and everything." A raindrop fell and splatted him in the face. "Quick, before it starts to really come down!"

Cloud climbed onto the back of the bike and secured the helmet.

"Arms around me, Spikey, I don't want you flying off the back!"

The warmth of Cloud's body wrapped around Zack, causing his heart rate to increase once again. Cloud yelled his address, and Zack took off.

The rain started to pour down just as they pulled up to Cloud's apartment.

Cloud pulled off the helmet, but didn't give it to Zack. "Why don't you come in until the rain lets up?" he hollered over a boom of thunder.

"Nah, I'll be fine!" Zack smiled. Even though he _really_ wanted to be with Cloud a bit longer, it was already nearing midnight, and he still had homework to do.

Cloud stared at him nervously, but nodded his head. "If you say so. Thanks for the ride…I'll see you around."

"Yeah, thanks for helping out tonight!" Zack flashed a smile and watched as Cloud turned to run to the front door.

As soon as the blonde spikes disappeared, a jolt of energy ran through Zack, and he hit the kick stand on his bike, letting his helmet fall to the curb. He then ran through the front door and saw Cloud unlocking a door down the hall.

"Cloud!" he half whispered while jogging down the hall, receiving a confused look from the younger man. "I give you full permission to punch me in the face if I'm wrong, but…" he grabbed Cloud's face in his hands and pressed his their lips together. He tasted like lemonade.

Cloud had no reaction at first, and Zack saw that as a clear rejection. How could he be so stupid? Of course Cloud was straight.

However, as soon as he began to pull away, Cloud reached up and gripped the collar of Zack's shirt, jerking him back down. Cloud's tongue entered Zack's mouth by force, though he wasn't complaining. He pushed Cloud against the wall and ran his hands down the younger man's sides, resting them on his hips. Cloud's fingers laced their way through Zack's coarse black hair, sending pleasant shivers down his spine.

Finally Cloud pulled away, leaning his head back far enough to look up at Zack. "You wanna come in?" he asked, breathless.

Zack half smiled, which was enough of an answer for Cloud. The younger man grabbed his hand and pulled him through the open door. Cloud slammed it behind them and pushed Zack towards the couch, not even letting him slip off his shoes. Zack was shoved down, and Cloud climbed on top so that he was straddling him.

After shedding their shirts, Cloud dove back in for another kiss. This one went deeper than the one in the hallway, and Zack could feel his groin begin to ache. He could feel Cloud's fingers begin to undo his jeans, so he lifted his butt up off of the couch so that they could be pulled down.

As soon as his dick was revealed, Cloud grabbed ahold of it, and Zack let out a sharp breath. He then undid Cloud's jeans and tossed him to the side so that he was lying down on the couch. He removed Cloud's shoes and threw them to the floor. He then wiggled the wet denim down, which didn't slid off easy, but it was worth the wait. Cloud was completely hard, and Zack hunched over to take the blonde's length into his mouth.

"Zack!" Cloud twined his fingers into Zack's hair, pulling him away. "Don't…don't make me come that quickly."

Zack grinned and climbed up so that he was engulfing Cloud's smaller frame. "Top or bottom?" he asked, assuring that they were on the same page.

"Bottom." Cloud whispered, mashing his lips into Zack's once more.

One of Zack's hands traced down Cloud's abdomen, which wasn't flabby but wasn't muscular. Cloud lifted his leg, propping it up against the back of the couch. Zack now had easy access to his hole, which he massaged gently with his middle finger.

"Do you have any lube or condoms?" Zack asked, not wanted to go in dry and unprotected.

"Uhh…no. Actually…" his face turned red. "I've never done anything like this before so..."

Zack pulled away. Cloud was a virgin? "Spike, this is really going to hurt if-"

"I can handle it!" Cloud yelled, pulling Zack back down. His voice dropped down into a whisper. "I trust you."

Zack's stomach flopped. He wanted to make sure that this didn't hurt Cloud, but he also didn't want to hurt his feelings by basically telling him that he wouldn't sleep with him.

He sighed and gently sucked on his fingers to get them wet before returning to Cloud's hole. He worked slowly, having difficulty getting his finger in. As soon as his middle finger entered, though, Cloud let out a small yelp in pain.

It was that moment that Zack decided he couldn't go any further. He slowly removed his finger, which caused Cloud to let out another small cry.

"I can't do it." he said, resting his forehead on Cloud's. "I _won't_ do it. Not like this."

To his surprise, Cloud nodded. "I understand…but then…"

Zack didn't need to hear the rest of Cloud's sentence to know what he was going to say. "I don't have to be inside of you to make it feel good." he whispered, tracing his lips down Cloud's neck. He moved lower, gripping Cloud's thighs in his large hands and pushing them to Cloud's chest.

"What are- _oh._ " he moaned as Zack's tongue flicked across his hole. One hand let go of Cloud's thigh and gripped his swollen dick, stroking it lightly. He then let his tongue delve a little deeper into Cloud, who let out all kinds of small noises. He ran his thumb over the tip of Cloud's seeping dick, and used it to slicken the entire length. His pace increased, his tongue went deeper, and Cloud got louder. Zack couldn't help but to smile and glance up at the blonde, who had his head thrown back.

Zack wanted more of a reaction, so he took Cloud's balls in his mouth and gave them a hard suck. Cloud arched his back slightly, and Zack did it again. Finally, he took Cloud's dick in his mouth again, but went much harder and faster at it. He felt Cloud's dick hit the back of his throat, which only excited him even more. He grabbed the base of the younger man's penis and pumped it while he sucked on the tip.

"Zack…I can't…" Cloud bucked his hips forward, but he still didn't come. "Not in your mouth…" he pushed Zack away from him. "I don't want to come in your mouth." he said innocently.

Zack almost came himself at the sight of Cloud. His cheeks were flushed, his hair messy. His big blue eyes were still easily visible in the pale moonlight.

He was the most beautiful man Zack had ever seen.

"I intend to finish what I started." Zack stated, taking Cloud's still hard dick in his mouth again.

Cloud threw his head back as Zack's pace increased, and he came not even five seconds after.

The younger man's body went limp, and Zack flipped him so that he was underneath him. Even though his own dick was rock hard, he ignored it. He couldn't bring himself to ask Cloud to do something about it.

And he didn't have to. Cloud immediately gathered his strength and gripped Zack's dick, taking the head in his mouth.

Since Zack had almost reached his limit just by sucking Cloud off, it wasn't long before he was coming too. To his surprise, Cloud had no problem swallowing every last drop.

"You've done that before?" Zack asked as Cloud climbed up to lay on his chest.

Cloud smiled shyly. "I may be a…what would you call it…a butt virgin? But I've sucked a few dicks in my days."

"Clearly." Zack sighed, tracing his fingers down Cloud's back.

They lay there for a long time, just running their fingers over each other's bodies.

"Cloud?"

"Hm?" the blonde answered sleepily.

"I really should get going…"

"Oh." he said, dejectedly.

"Don't say it like that!" Zack sat up and took Cloud's face in his hands. "I have work right away in the morning. Next time…next time I'll sleep over. Okay?"

Cloud half smiled. "Yeah. Okay."

Zack got dressed and kissed Cloud on the lips once more before heading out the door.

He got halfway down the hall when he realized something extremely important.

Cloud.

He ran back and opened the door, thankful that it hadn't been locked yet.

"Did you forget something?" Cloud asked, holding his clothes in his hands.

"Yeah." Zack shut the door behind him. He grabbed Cloud's face and kissed him deeply, letting his tongue run over the younger man's teeth. "You."

Cloud dropped his clothes and Zack scooped him up into his arms, carrying him directly to the bedroom.

Neither of them got any sleep that night. They lay tangled together, not wanting to waste any time together by falling asleep. They talked about this and that, and slowly, Zack found himself falling for the blonde.

Genesis was going to kill both of them.


End file.
